Unspoken
by ThatRosieSparkle
Summary: It had taken three or four thunderstorms for the task force to notice that L had the uncanny ability to excuse himself from a room and disappear almost exactly ten minutes before the sky cracked and the clouds burst. Could be taken as Light/L...


**A/N: Yet another contest entry that won diddly squat. (Bitter? Me? Never! XD) The prompt was "Umbrella" – Enjoy!**

Unspoken

It was raining again.

Light glanced away from his bright computer screen to look out of the window at the darkness pooling in the sky, smoke grey clouds broiling and churning ominously. A fluorescing rectangle of light marred his view of the dim room, flashing painfully whenever he blinked, and he took it as a sign that he needed to either turn the lights on or take a break.

Stifling a large yawn, Light leant back in his chair and ran a hand across his tired eyes. The cavernous room was oddly quiet, and it took Light several minutes to realise that it was due to the absence of a delicate pastry fork clinking against china, or the plop of sugar cubes into tea, or the soft squish of strawberries as they were devoured one by one, meticulously.

L had declared at least half an hour earlier that he was going to the kitchen for more food, and Light had distractedly waved him on his way. However, the detective had still not yet returned, and Light furrowed his brow, twisting around in his seat so as to check that L wasn't lurking silently in a corner behind him on the off chance that Light might reveal himself to be Kira if left alone for long enough. After craning his neck so as to see even underneath the stairs, and calling out a soft, "Ryuzaki?" Light flopped back into place and ran a hand through his golden-blond hair, shooting another glance outside.

Rain was coming down thick and fast now, plastering the glass of the window in liquid crystal and distorting Light's view of the city into a watery blur of sparkling lights and the black expanses between.

Where on earth was L?

Listening to the steady drum of the rain against the building, the slight howl of the wind as it whipped past, Light suddenly remembered: L would be on the roof.

It had taken three or four thunderstorms for the task force to notice that L had the uncanny ability to excuse himself from a room and disappear almost exactly ten minutes before the sky cracked and the clouds burst. He was far more reliable than the weather forecast, as if attuned to the distant roll of bad weather through the atmosphere; their very own storm warning system.

He would always be found standing on the roof, wet through and statuesque, an uncharacteristic half-smile tugging mournfully at his lips. Matsuda had declared him mad when they first found him up there alone, claiming he would act as a lightning rod and was endangering the entire building. Light, however, remained quiet, struck dumb by the sight of such a powerful figure reduced to looking so vulnerable and human, so forlorn, standing bedraggled like an abandoned child.

Muttering under his breath, Light got reluctantly out of his chair and marched for the door, grabbing on his way past the small, tartan umbrella that Ide had left behind that afternoon. Stamping up the stairs towards the topmost floor, Light began to hear more clearly the rhythmic beat of rain against the roof and shivered in anticipation of the unpleasant weather conditions he was about to subject himself to.

When he reached the grotty double doors leading outside, he could indeed see through one of the small glass panels the distant, hazy figure of L standing far out on the edge of the roof. He leant against a door, pushing it open with his hips as he put up the umbrella with his hands, shaking his head in an almost exasperated fashion. Bracing himself against a battering wind that whipped a fine spray of water into his face from every direction, Light began trudging across the top of the building towards the soaked detective.

As he neared L, he could see that the usually soft, bagging white t-shirt he wore was hugging his lithe torso like a second skin, cotton made almost transparent by the wet. It hung heavy with the weight of the water soaked into its fibres, and so the collar was stretched down around one of L's shoulders, baring his pale skin to the raging elements. The sleeves, too, dragged down beyond L's spider-like hands, and the hem leaked and dripped yet more rain onto already sodden jeans, denim dark and plastered to L's legs. His feet remained habitually bare, despite the significant puddle L was standing in, toes curling over each other and adding to the ripples that spread across the pool's surface.

Usually chaotic black hair that stood proud from the detective's head as if it had a will of its own was now flat against his scalp, sopping jet lances over his face almost obscuring his dark, haunting eyes from view. Raindrops ran down his cheeks in cascades, looking heartbreakingly like streams of tears, pooling along his jaw-line and dripping from his chin. A single, crystal-like droplet sat smugly on his top lip, and L made no move to shake or wipe it away, calmly accepting of the abuse nature was hurling at him.

Light splashed his way straight towards the detective, a tiny spark of pity burning brightly in his honey eyes. When he reached L, he stood close so as to share the little shelter his umbrella provided.

Without looking at the teen, L muttered, "What are you doing, Light-kun?" voice soft and distracted.

Shooting an incredulous look at the detective, Light replied, "Looking for you, actually. Isn't that much obvious?"

L continued staring out over the night-slicked city, ignoring the rain that stung at his wide, almost unblinking eyes. He nodded slightly and murmured, "Why, Light-kun?"

Light faltered, taken aback by the quiet, timid way in which the question was asked. L sounded desperate, as if there was some sort of comfort to be found in Light's answer that would ease whatever pain the rain seemed to be causing him.

"Because I- " Light corrected himself quickly, " –the task force don't want you catching pneumonia. It would be most impractical to have the head of our investigation bed-ridden in some god awful hospital somewhere."

A small chuckle escaped the older man as he dripped beside Light. In the far distance, the low, threatening rumble of thunder snarled, and a fissure of lightning cleaved the blackened horizon in two. The rain was hard and unrelenting, like gunfire; bullets of cold water clattering against iron girders and metal staircases, thudding against the flimsy umbrella, thundering onto brick and concrete.

"What if I want to stay here all night, Light-kun?" questioned L, glassy eyes still fixed on the view beyond the edge of the roof, some distant, faraway longing – far too sad to be seen in anything but the rain – gleaming in his obsidian irises.

Light shifted his feet and slightly flexed the wrist that held up his umbrella against the brute force of the storm. "Then so will I," he answered simply, and the pair lapsed into silence, hammering raindrops swallowing them into the night sky as they watched over the sleeping city sprawled before them.

**Review? Yes? Thanks!**


End file.
